M A I L B A G

Accountability must be fixed on postal staff

In his article “The lost letter: Symptom of the decline of the system”, Sunanda K. Dutta-Ray examines that in every sphere of national life, especially those controlled by the officialdom and politicians, apathy and callousness are all pervasive. The major cause for this is the total lack of accountability of the bureaucrats and through them the lower rungs of babudom. The employees in most government offices are corrupt and insolent.

The only spheres of excellence and progress are in the private sector, be it information technology, booming market with increasing consumer products and even education and health services. The government agencies are best known for corruption, red tape and inefficiency resulting in the people’s erosion of faith. Even the judiciary is not above board, especially at the lower level.

The solution to the problem lies in the privatisation of most public services so that a person can get his job done with dignity and without delay. There is a need to overhaul the system by abolishing most government departments and dispensing with unwanted legal and administrative laws which breed corruption and inefficiency.

Brig H.S. SANDHU (retd), Panchkula

II

The article ruthlessly exposes the steep deterioration in the working of the Posts and Telegraph department. Indisputably, in the good old days, this department enjoyed a pride of place and won laurels for providing efficient service to the common man. However, over the years, the situation has changed from bad to worse.

Amazingly, the pace of dak delivery has slowed down to such an extent that it took 20 days for an official letter (addressed to this writer) to reach Ambota from Shimla and 15 days for another letter from Sundarnagar! Affluent sections have at their disposal numerous alternative modes of communication which a common man cannot afford.

Let us hope that the powers that be would spare no effort to help the common man by putting the department back on the rails.

TARA CHAND, Ambota (Una)

CII’s commitment

In the editorial “Helping war widows” (March 30), there is reference to undertaking of corporate social responsibilities by organisations like the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in rehabilitation and skill training centres for women who have been at the receiving end of incessant militancy in the Kashmir Valley.

We are glad to share with you that CII’s Social Development Council has been actively involved in various social development activities. We are committed to building capacities and facilitating the mainstreaming of marginalised groups. Our efforts are aimed at addressing the issues of primary education, rural community development, livelihood options, women empowerment, HIV/AIDS, health, environment and disability through multi-stakeholder partnerships.

In Jammu and Kashmir, we support 200 children, orphaned by militancy. We also support war widows by encouraging them to produce and promote Kashmiri handicrafts. These women participated in Nature Bazaar at Dilli Haat in November 2004. We are committed in our support to these marginalised groups, till they become self-reliant.

This is just a drop in the ocean. We at CII are committed to further broadbasing this initiative as we go forward.

RATIKA JAIN, Regional Director, CII, Northern Region, Chandigarh

The only panacea

I refer to the recent seminar on the impact of linguistic re-organisation at Dayal Singh College, Karnal (March 24). Linguistic divisions have not only led to many inter-state problems but also increased social tensions, regionalism, communalism and terrorism in the recent decades. Communal harmony has also disturbed peace and harmony in Indian society. The problem is not division on linguistic lines but on religion.

The politicians have created their vote banks by creating bitterness, rancour and hatred among the people. Casteism has also vitiated the atmosphere in many states.

The common man in Punjab, Haryana or Himachal Pradesh has not gained much. The idea of Greater Punjab (Maha Punjab with its boundaries extending from Kinnaur to Fazilka and Wagah to Mohindergarh) propounded by the late Sardar Partap Singh Kairon is the only panacea for all these ills.

Dr L.K. MANUJA, Principal (retd), Nahan (HP)

Self-reliance in defence I have gone through Mr Simarnjit Singh Mann’s article “Military doctrine: no radical change”. I wonder if post-independence India had any military doctrine till the 1962 India-China war which woke India from its slumber. Till then our only threat perception was from Pakistan over Kashmir where India had already made a strategic blunder of stopping an advancing Indian Army and knocking at the UN door. I agree with Mr Mann that after 1947, India should have become a major producer of armaments not only to meet our own defence requirements but also to compete with other nations in exporting at competitive prices. It is sad to see that while countries like France, Germany, Japan and even Italy, which were devastated during the World War II, have build a strong economy and powerful technological infrastructure, India’s second biggest army in the world is still dependent on major world powers for its operational preparedness. Gp-Capt A.J.S. GREWAL (retd), Chandigarh